Confused about S&S ISA's - probably stupid question..

Lansdowne

cheerfulcat wrote: »

There are plenty of self-select ISA providers which will allow you to hold those and many other funds. Alliance Trust is a reasonably cheap option, Selftrade another.

I have an account with Alliance Trust, they are expanding the range of funds they offer. BUT they charge £12.50 per transaction so no good for the small amounts like £50/100 per month: unless they have a regular investment option which I haven't come across.

Other fund supermarkets offer zero platform charges but don't give the same level of discount.

noh

Lansdowne wrote: »

I have an account with Alliance Trust, they are expanding the range of funds they offer. BUT they charge £12.50 per transaction so no good for the small amounts like £50/100 per month: unless they have a regular investment option which I haven't come across.

Other fund supermarkets offer zero platform charges but don't give the same level of discount.

Alliance Trust savings do have a regular investment option but it is still relatively expensive at £5. So still not cost effective for small amounts.

fimonkey

Thanks all,

I'm confused about the charges of fund platforms/self select ISA's (i.e "zero platform charges but not the same level of discount" - what does that mean?) IF I transfer an existing fund to them (the L&G tracker) then what 'discount' is there to offer if I already have it?

What's the cheapest platform for me to hold my L&G UK index tracker where I add £100pm, and also open up the black rock emerging markets fund and add £100pm to that too please - and hold both these investments in an ISA?

(so yes in effect a regular saver)

fimonkey

can anyone help with my last post please?

Thanks in advance if you can.

turbobob

Probably means discounts in the form of rebates of initial and renewal commission. For example with Hargreaves Lansdown most funds are zero initial charge and some have an annual "discount" which is a rebate of renewal commission (probably not trackers though, as they don't pay much renewal). This effectively lowers the annual management charge.

I don't know what's the cheapest option for holding those two funds in an ISA sorry.

fimonkey

Thanks Turbobob.

I found a great comparison of platforms on the MF website, but I can't seem to fnid it to post here at the moment, will edit if I do find it...

Selftrade and iii both seem to be the best fundplatforms and hold both of these funds so I'm hoping to transfer my L&G ISA to one of them then open up the black rock one... BUT...

Before I do, both selftrade and iii charge a fee of £1.50 for a regular investment. As I'll be putting £100pm to L&G and £50pm to Black Rock I'll end up paying £3.00 per £150 invested which is 2% (I think?). I thnik this is in addition to the TER of L&G which is 0.5% and the black rock fund which is 1.7%.

Adding these all up together, is it a bit high? As far as I know the L&G fund I hold do not currently charge me a monthly deposit fee, the only cost is 0.5% TER

Should I abandon the idea of Black Rock altogether? I wanted to hold them all in an ISA as they are long term investments.

Many thanks in advance

turbobob

I'd suggest double checking the fee of £1.50 would apply to investments in Unit Trusts/OEICs. I've had a look at iii and I might be wrong, but as I understand it the £1.50 is the special reduced rate for regular buys of shares, ETF's and investment trusts. Normally you'd pay £10 a time for an ad hoc order to buy or sell these investments. Unit trusts/OEICs are commission paying so it would be unusual to charge a flat fee to buy these - it would be either a percentage or there would be no initial charge.

Here is the Blackrock funds offered through iii - http://www.iii.co.uk/isas/fundfilter/?task=show_fund_search&FS__FSM__id=83&FS__FSS__id=&FS__fn=